Dispensing device

ABSTRACT

A dispersing valve comprises a disc having a sinuous slit which is cut at an angle with respect to the face of the disc to form at least two, and preferably three, valve members, one of which is larger than the other one or two and is designed to permit passage of fluid when the container to which the valve is attached is compressed. The at least one other valve permits excess fluid and air to return to the interior of the container when it is released. The multiple valve arrangement is formed by the angular nature of the slit, permitting highly efficient dispensing and resealing action.

Venable et al.

1 51 July4, 1972 [54] DISPENSING DEVICE [72] Inventors: Herny B.Venable; Catherine M. Venable,

both of Box 144, Chadds Ford, Pa. 19317 [22] Filed: Feb. I, 1971 [21]Appl.No.: 111,544

[52] US. Cl ..222/212, 222/490, 222/564 [51] Int. Cl ..B65d 37/00 [58]Field ofSearch..... ...222/562,54l,2l2,2l5,2l3,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,720,881 10/1955 Jones..222/490 x 2,957,501 10/1960 Holmes ..222/212 Y INNER PrimaryExaminer-Richard A. Schacher Assistant ExaminerJames M. SlatteryAttarneyRoylance, Abrams, Berdo and Kaul [5 7] ABSTRACT A dispersingvalve comprises a disc having a sinuous slit which is cut at an anglewith respect to the face of the disc to form at least two, andpreferably three, valve members, one of which is larger than the otherone or two and is designed to permit passage of fluid when the containerto which the valve is attached is compressed. The at least one othervalve permits excess fluid and air to return to the interior of thecontainer when it is released. The multiple valve arrangement is formedby the angular nature of the slit, permitting highly efficientdispensing and resealing action.

5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures SURFACE PATENTED L 4 I972 BEST AVAILABLECOPY 3 674,183

FIG. 2

INNER SURFACE FIG.4

2| 2 FIG. 5 20 OUTER Hg 1\\\\\\\\ INNER 7 F|G.6 5

9 INVENTORS.

HENRY B. VENABLE CATHERINE M. VENABLE ATTORNEYS.

DISPENSING DEVICE This invention relates to dispensing apparatus andspecifically to a valve apparatus for use in a flexible containerwhereby fluids of various viscosities can be dispensed.

For many years a number of prior art workers have been concerned withthe design of a valve of a type which would, when applied to a flexiblewall container, pemtit liquids of various viscosities, up to andincluding pastes, to be dispensed by reducing the volume of thecontainer, squeezing the material through the valve. There are manypatents dealing with this general subject including patents showingdiscs having slits cut therein whereby the material is forced againstthe wall of a disc, distorting the slit and permitting material to passtherethrough.

Many problems have developed with disc and slit valves of this typeincluding the tendency of material to remain on the exterior surface ofthe slit after dispensing, whereupon the material would dry and inhibitfurther action of the dispensing mechanism. An additional problem isthat the material, once dried, would become lodged in the opening on theoccasion of a subsequent dispensing operation, thereafter holding thevalve open and preventing the necessary sealing operation, whereupon thematerial within the container would evaporate or change characteristics,leading to degeneration of the product in the container.

In any of these circumstances it is possible to use one of the prior artvalves in conjunction with a closing cap or other mechanism so that thecontainer is sealed by the secondary cap, thereby preventing drying ordegeneration of the con tained material. However, the use of anadditional cap effectively does away with the need for a valve, it beingsimpler to simply provide a cap which closes a simple pouring spout.

An object of the present invention is to provide a disc type valvestructure in which a plurality of valves are provided to dispensematerial therethrough and provide a good seal after dispensing.

A further object is to provide a valve structure which permits materialto be expressed therethrough by a flexible wall container and which,after dispensing, recovers excess material and substantially preventsdeposits of material on the exterior portion of the valve.

A still further object is to provide a multiple valve structure in whichone valve acts as a dispensing valve and at least one other valve isprovided adjacent thereto to withdraw excess material from the outsideof the valve into the container.

A further object is to provide a valve structure wherein a plurality ofvalves are formed by a continuous slit in a resilient disc member, thevalve formed being operative to promote dispensing and cleaning of thevalve as the container associated therewith is compressed and released.

In order that the manner in which the foregoing and other objects areattained in accordance with the invention can be understood in detail,particularly advantageous embodiments thereof will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings which form a part of thisspecification and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation in section of a valve disc mounted in the cap ofa flexible bottle;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a disc valve in accordance with the invention,the view being that from the interior of a container;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the disc of FIG. 2 from the exterior of thecontainer;

FIG. 4 is a section along 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a section along diameter 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a section along lines 66 of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 7-9 are alternative embodiments of disc valves in accordance withthe present invention; and

FIG. is an enlarged section of a portion of a valve disc showing asuitable structure for the disc.

Briefly described, the present invention provides a valve structureformed by slitting a disc along a generally sinuous line to form atleast two, and preferably three, valve members. One valve member islarger than the other one or two valve members. Each valve member isformed by a slit which is slanted with respect to the major plane of thedisc, or, phrased differently, the slit can be described as being formedby the movement of a line lying at an acute angle with the plane of thedisc as it moves with respect to the disc axis.

The term disc" as used herein refers to a substantially flat body ofresilient material but is not necessarily limited to a circular disc.Clearly, oval, rectangular or other perimetral shapes can be employedalthough circular discs will be disclosed herein for simplicity.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be observed that FIG. 1 shows aconventional container 1 which is generally referred to as a squeezebottle" and can be made of any conventional materials such aspolyethylene, polypropolene or the like. The specific material employedfor construction of the bottle is relatively unimportant, thesignificant aspect being that the bottle is flexible and can becompressed to reduce the interior volume thereof and to force materialcontained therein out of the bottle.

The bottle includes a neck portion 2 which can be exteriorly threaded toreceive an interiorly threaded cap 3 which closes the open neck of thebottle and supports a disc valve in accordance with the presentinvention. The cap includes an interior annular groove 4 into which canbe placed a disc 5 including the present valve structure. The upperportion of the cap is closed by a transverse end wall 6 which includes acentral protrusion 7 having an end portion 8 which can be severed alonga line indicated by dotted line 9 after purchase to produce a permanentopening in the end of the cap. Thereafter, the volume of the bottle isseparated from the exterior of the bottle only by the valve structure ofdisc 5.

The manner in which a preferred embodiment of the valve structure isformed can be seen more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, FIG. 2 being a view ofdisc 5 from the interior of the bottle and FIG. 3 being a view of thesame disc as it would be seen from the exterior of the bottle. Thevalves are formed by a sinuous slit or cut indicated generally at 10,the cut on the inner surface of the disc describing a linear shape whichcan be characterized as having two hills separated by a relatively broadvalley. One hill 11 of the cut forms a valve portion 12, the seat forwhich constitutes a slanted surface extending between the hill portion11 and the opening of that portion of the cut at the other surface ofthe disc at 13. Valve portion 12 thus hinges along a line whichapproximately follows opening point 13 of the cut but is also slantedthrough the thickness of the disc on approximately the same angle as thecut.

At the other end of the cut a second small valve 14 is formed by thehill" 15 of the cut, the opening of that portion of the cut on theopposite side of the disc being identified at 16.

The central portion 17 of the cut forms a substantially larger valve 18,the opening of cut portion 17 'on the back surface of the disc beingidentified as 19. As viewed in FIG. 2, valves 12 and 14 tend to open ina direction which is out of the paper, while valve 18 opens more easilyin a direction which would be into the paper as viewed in FIG. 2. Thecontrary condition exists in FIG. 3.

The action of these valves can be seen most easily by referring to FIGS.4-6 in which sectional views of each valve are shown. Referring first toFIG. 5, it will be observed that as the bottle is compressed, air and/orliquid contained within the bottle is forced against the inner surfaceof disc 5, pressing against the inner surface of valve 18 and forcing itaway from its seat, permitting material to pass through in the directionof arrow 20. In FIGS. 4 and 6 valves 12 and 14 are forced open whenmaterial has been expressed from the bottle and the natural resilienceof the walls thereof is working to restore the bottle to its originalcondition, causing a decreased pressure within the container and anincreased pressil're outside of the container. The increased externalpressure forces valves 12 and 14 open, permitting the influx of air asshown by arrows 21 and 22, respectively. Arrows 21 and 22 also indicatethe path followed by any excess liquid which is allowed to remain in thecavity between valve 5 and end wall 6 of the cap (FIG.

1), thus cleaning the outer surface of the cap and especially the regionalong the slit which forms valve 18. It will be observed that thecleaning action in the valve wherein a single out forms all three valvesis substantially more efiicient than in a structure in which the valvesare formed by separate cuts because the liquid remaining outside of thevalve disc tends to follow and remain adjacent this cut. Thus, whenvalves 12 and 14 are open excess material lying along the portion of cutidentified as 19 will tend to flow along the cut to portions 13 and I6and be withdrawn back into the bottle by the influx of air.

The relationship of the slanted cut or slit to the major plane of thedisc can be understood more clearly from a description of the linesfonned at the inner and outer surfaces of disc 5. The line formed by thecut at the inner surface of the disc can be analogized to an electricalsine wave having a specific peak-to-peak amplitude, that amplitude beingcomparable to the total excursion of the line or the distance a in FIG.2. The analogy is not a precise one because the wave" formed by the lineis not truly cyclic, valve 18 being wider than the others; but with thisdifference being understood, the analogy is reasonably close.

Then, the line formed by the opening of the cut on the opposite (outer)surface of the disc can be regarded as a sinuous wave having the samephase as the line on the inner surface, but having a much smalleramplitude indicated as b in FIG. 2. Also, the line on the outer surfaceis displaced laterally from the one on the inner surface, resembling adisplacement (continuing the analogy) in DC level of one wave withrespect to the other.

The lateral displacement (downward in FIGS. 2 and 3) and the differencein amplitude are the result of the angles at which the valves are cut.The angle of the portion between slit openings 17 and 19 isapproximately 70 with respect to either disc face, while the angleformed by each of the small valves is about 20. These are preferredangular relationships and have been found to be highly effective innursing bottles and in medicine and liquid soap dispensing bottles.

As shown in the drawings, each valve-forming cut lies entirely withinthe peripheral confines of the body. However, it will be recognizedthat, for convenience, it may be desirable to form the valves with a cutwhich severs the body into two parts, after which the structure isessentially made unitary again by clamping the edges, as with annularrings.

It will be observed that as a direct result of the cleaning action andthe superior seating action resulting from the formation of these valvesby slanted cuts, dropping or shaking the bottle does not permit materialcontained therein to be sprayed or jarred out of the bottle, there beingno excess to lie outside of the disc and insufficient force to open thevalve.

An alternative embodiment of the invention can be seen in FIG. 7 whereinthe slit in a valve disc is of a generally sinuous nature but formsrelatively sharp peaks rather than gentle curves. However, a similarconfiguration results and a likewise similar result is obtained in astructure wherein a slit 31 alternates between peaks 32, 33 and 34, eachportion of the cut being slanted in a manner similar to that describedwith reference to FIGS. 2-6, forming a central main valve portion 35 andsmaller valve portions 36 and 37, valve 35 being the valve by whichmaterial is expressed from the interior of the bottle and valves 36 and37 functioning to permit the return of excess material and air into thebottle. It will be observed that disc 30, as viewed in FIG. 7, is seenfrom the exterior of the bottle.

A further embodiment is shown in FIG. 8 wherein the cut, again generallysinuous in character, forms a central valve with a central U-shaped slit41 in a disc 40. Smaller discs are formed by inverted U-shaped cutportions 42 and 43, producing the smaller valves to permit reentry ofexcess material and air into the bottle after the desired amount hasbeen expressed through the main valve formed by the portion 41 of theslit.

Yet another embodiment is shown in FIG. 9 in which a disc 45 contains aslit 46 which is similar to the slit in disc 40 of FIG. 8 in that it hasa major U-shaped portion 47 and a smaller valve formed by a smallerU-shaped slit portion 48 at one end of slit 46. As will be recognized inview of the above discussion, the valve structure in disc 45 includesonly two valves, a large valve 49 formed by portion 47 and a smallervalve 50 formed by portion 48. Although this embodiment is not regardedas being as efficient as those previously discussed, it constitutes analternative approach which is also advantageous.

FIG. 10 shows a section of a portion of one of the discs disclosing aspecific laminate structure which is especially desirable for use in thediscs discussed with reference to FIGS. 2-9. In FIG. 10 the discindicated generally at 51 includes a central fiber layer includingorthogonally extending fibers 52 and 53 forming a fabric layer throughthe center of and sandwiched between layers of elastomer 54 and 55.Typical suitable elastomers include such materials as polybutidiene orpolychloroprene, the major characteristic being a flexibility andresilience which permits good sealing action and a restoration of thematerial to its original fon'n.

While certain advantageous embodiments have been chosen to illustratethe invention it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes and modifications can be made therein without departingfrom the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A multiple valve structure comprising a planar body of resilientmaterial; and

a continuous, nonorthogonal cut extending through said body from onemajor surface thereof to the other major surface thereof,

said out opening at one major surface in a first line having a generallysinuous pattern and having at least two lateral reversals in directionin the plane of said one major surface,

said cut opening at the other major surface in a second line having agenerally sinuous pattern and having at least two lateral reversals indirection in the plane of said other major surface, and

the lateral excursions of said first line being significantly greaterthan the lateral excursions of said second line,

each of said excursions forming an independently operable valve member,adjacent ones of said valve members being operable by fluid pressureapplied to opposite major surfaces of said planar body.

2. A structure according to claim 1 wherein the valve member formed byone excursion of said first and second lines is characterized by asignificantly greater surface area than the valve member formed by anadjacent excursion.

3. A structure according to claim 1 wherein said cut extends throughsaid body at an angle of between 20 and with respect to said majorsurfaces.

4. A structure according to claim 1 wherein each end of said cut lieswithin said body.

5. A structure according to claim I wherein each of said first andsecond lines forms a sawtooth pattern in which each lateral reversal isan acute angle.

1. A multiple valve structure comprising a planar body of resilientmaterial; and a continuous, nonorthogonal cut extending through saidbody from one major surface thereof to the other major surface thereof,said cut opening at one major surface in a first line having a generallysinuous pattern and having at least two lateral reversals in directionin the plane of said one major surface, said cut opening at the othermajor surface in a second line having a generally sinuous pattern andhaving at least two lateral reversals in direction in the plane of saidother major surface, and the lateRal excursions of said first line beingsignificantly greater than the lateral excursions of said second line,each of said excursions forming an independently operable valve member,adjacent ones of said valve members being operable by fluid pressureapplied to opposite major surfaces of said planar body.
 2. A structureaccording to claim 1 wherein the valve member formed by one excursion ofsaid first and second lines is characterized by a significantly greatersurface area than the valve member formed by an adjacent excursion.
 3. Astructure according to claim 1 wherein said cut extends through saidbody at an angle of between 20* and 70* with respect to said majorsurfaces.
 4. A structure according to claim 1 wherein each end of saidcut lies within said body.
 5. A structure according to claim 1 whereineach of said first and second lines forms a sawtooth pattern in whicheach lateral reversal is an acute angle.